Political editor, The Age

The Gillard government has been urged to reassess the claims for refugee status of scores of asylum seekers from the Hazara ethnic minority in Pakistan.

Many of those who attended protests in Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane on Monday mourned the deaths of friends and relatives in the most recent attack, in which more than 100 Hazaras, mainly women and children, died on the outskirts of Quetta last week.

Among the protesters were several whose bridging visas have either expired, or are about to expire, and face deportation after their claims for refugee status were rejected.

Nadir, whose wife and five children are living within 800 metres of last week's attack, says his youngest children need counselling for the trauma they have witnessed. ''Apart from massacre and blood, there is nothing there for them. All they see and hear is blood, screams and explosions,'' he said.

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Another protester, Ataullah, says his visa expires on March 4 and he worries about his wife, who is still in Afghanistan.

Pamela Curr, of the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre, says about 100 Hazaras had claims rejected when the success rate of Afghan applications fell from 90 to about 30 per cent.